INTERNATIONAL CRICKET

Marnus Labuschagne not happy with the surface at Gabba

Brett lee umran Malik

Australia’s star batter, Marnus Labuschagne has criticized the wicket at Gabba after the end of the first Test match between Australia and South Africa.

While skipper Pat Cummins deemed the Gabba wicket as ‘safe’, following Dean Elgar’s ‘unsafe’ comment, Labuschagne feels that the wicket looked more like that of a Shield game.

The first Test between the two nations ended in just two days and Labuschagne took his team to victory by remaining unbeaten.

Labuschagne is having a great time in Tests as he had a prolific run against the West Indies as well.

In the first Test, 34 wickets fell within the two days of the match and the surface has now been deemed bowler-friendly.

Labuschagne has commented that while fans love fast wickets in Australia, this is no way to end a Test match.

That’s why he has said that the wicket felt like that of a Shield game at times.

Labuschagne’s comments on Gabba surface after Test win

I don’t think it was a very good Test wicket, no. It felt a bit like a Shield game. I think everyone understands that this is not what we want, that’s not the ideal scenario. We love the pace of the wicket, we love the bounce, we love two fast bowling attacks going at it, but if we’re going to finish in under two days it’s obviously not ideal for Test cricket. But the reality is we’ve played on probably two of those in the last two years.

Labuschagne is also of the opinion that a Test match becomes interesting when it gets revealed who is going to gain the upper hand.

Test cricket is an endurance battle. Can the batter outlast the bowler? It’s a strategic game, and obviously, when you play on a wicket like this it brings the match so close together. It becomes a little bit of a lottery about who gets the upper hand on a wicket like that.

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